The good news for those who still do not get Freeview, around 20% of the population in the United Kingdom, the wait will be over around 2012. The organisation, which has been given its responsibility for digital switchover, maintains on its website that when the country goes digital, it can increase the power of the broadcasts thus reaching farther to more people.

The five shareowners equally share the Freeview service, namely BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky and transmitter operator Arqiva. The idea behind Freeview is one that leans towards the consumer. After all, it is No Subscription, No Contract television.

All you need is a Freeview set top box or TV with built-in Freeview from the manufacturer of your choice, and these too are a one-time cost. For those of you who already have one of the newer TV sets, chances are your TV set is already digital capable. All new television sets being manufactured today are digital capable.

About 10 years ago, it was unimaginable to get free premium television broadcasts for no charge. It was either cable, which was a paid service, or pay per view. In the recent past, a lot of premium providers have switched over to free to air broadcasts, realising that they can probably get more commercial based income from a wider advertising audience.

This combined with the onslaught of high-speed broadband, and its internet based television services and cheaper technological components have been the driving force behind Freeview. The idea behind pay per view is slowly dying. More and more people feel that television broadcasts should be free to air.

Freeview currently offers various services. Freeview+ is one that allows consumers to record and playback television broadcasts. This however can be done on special DTRs (Digital Television Recorders). These special recorders contain computer like hard disks of large capacities and allow users to set programming recording options up to seven days in advance. Freeview HD is another service being offered by Freeview. This is the High Definition broadcasts of providers. Virtually all broadcasters will convert to high definition in the near future. The advantages of high picture resolution speak for itself.

Jumping onto this bandwagon early, Freeview will be the clear-cut winner in television broadcasting. The services that are provided by Freeview today include television and data services from various providers. A rough translation of this is that in the future, in all probability, internet access will be antennae based. The future is Freeview boxes and Freeview television.